Some venues (e.g., amusement parks, theme parks, water parks, etc.) make lockers available to guests. The lockers may be used to store possessions while the guest is visiting the venue. In some instances, guests may use lockers on an ad hoc basis. For example, an amusement park may provide complimentary, short term, single re-entry lockers to store backpacks, cameras, concessions, and other carried items while guests are on a ride where such items are not permitted. In other instances, guests may choose to rent a locker for an extended period to store items as a convenience. For example, water park guests may rent a locker with no re-entry restrictions in order to have a secure place to store clothes, towels, keys, purses, wallets, phones, snacks, or other items left unattended while enjoying the water park attractions. Unrestricted re-entry allows guests the freedom to access the encoded items as needed throughout the day (e.g., to obtain a dry towel or money to buy food).
Controlling access to lockers in large, high traffic venues presents unique challenges. Venue lockers, particularly those with short term, specific purpose locker rights (e.g., ride lockers), have high turnover and are used by an ever-changing assortment of guests. Issuing temporary physical keys (e.g., wristbands, keycards, etc.) to guests adds to the venue overhead in a high turnover environment. Biometric access systems (e.g., fingerprint scanning) and other keyless technologies are more complex and inconsistent scans issues may leave guests unable to retrieve stored items. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.